I have to say that the writing was on the wall! The price undercut all it’s rivals and appeared to good to be true. I booked my August departure flight on the 18th of February 2008. Zoom Airways wanted payment in full. I did not want to loose my 32-night holiday so I reluctantly parted with the full amount. I booked direct flights from London Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale!

I found out not from Zoom, but from a friend of mine that my direct flight was now going via Bermuda, both my out going flight, and my flight home. I rang Zoom Airways and they told me this was indeed correct, and that if I looked at their terms and conditions that they could change the flight. I ask them was it not proper to inform the customer! I accepted their explanation and waited several months before we flew out to Florida on the 3rd of August 2008.

When we arrived at Gatwick airport we were told that our Zoom flight was suffering a seven-hour delay! This was not the start we wanted on our long haul flight across the Atlantic. It cost us a hotel room at Gatwick, and a hotel room at Fort Lauderdale! The staffs at Zoom were very polite and apologetic about the delay, and the flight was excellent!

The airline Zoom went “bust!” a week before we were due to fly back to the UK. I found out via a text message from a friend at work, whose wife is in the airline business that Zoom had ceased trading leaving passengers stranded all over the world.

I did not get official notification from Zoom Airlines until 24-hours later! I had this delay period in order to book a flight home for my family of four.

I paid for my airline tickets by credit card, and hopefully I am covered for a refund. Under section 75 of the Credit Card consumers act if I paid out more than £100 I should get some money back! Watch this space.